I was always intrigued by the saying, “I taught him everything he knows, but not everything that I know!” I always thought that was a pretty clever saying. It was also true of educators in years gone by. They were the content experts. If you wanted knowledge, these experts had it. People paid good money to travel to the places where these content experts delivered their wares, universities, colleges and monasteries. Knowledge was a commodity and, if the expert held anything back, a student’s only recourse for more, was to search the libraries. Ah, the simplicity of the bygone days. As public education came about we had many more content experts and many more libraries. That was the model, listen to experts and read content in books housed in academic or public libraries. Since all of education was based on print media every teacher was media literate, if they could read and understand.
Media began to change first with TV, and then with computers offering other means of content delivery. Television was easily understood and adopted quickly by educators. VCR’s were more easily handled than threading those ratchety, click-clickety-sounding 16 mm projectors. Video cassettes made everything user-friendly. I always thought that Social Studies teachers were the quickest to use video to deliver content. It was suited for them. Some teachers even allowed students to create content with video. That was innovation back in the day.
What threw the monkey wrench into the sprocket works of education was the damned internet and all of the stuff that it delivers. It comes in mass quantities and things are always changing, or evolving, or, in some cases, disappearing altogether to be replaced by something else. Being a content expert is easier if the content doesn’t change. Commit to it once, and you are done. The idea that there might be constant change and additional information happening on a frequent basis changes the dynamic of the content expert’s job. If content changes faster than the expert can adapt, maybe the expert needs to change the strategy. Teach students what to look for, and what to value in content, so they can access it in whatever form it is being delivered. More importantly, allow students to use those tools of technology and information to create new content and share it with others.
In order to do this, Educators, who are still the content experts, need to be literate in the area of media. They need to be aware of the means of delivery and learning tools for creation of content for their students. Gutenberg’s printing press innovation carried education for years. However, it is now a new digital era and Gutenberg technology is beginning to fade. I am sure someone told Gutenberg that they would never read his printed text because they loved the feel and smell of hand written scrolls. Guttenberg would probably feel delighted to know that people feel that very same way about his printed text today. They don’t like digital and prefer the printed text. Not so much the younger generation living with texting on 4 inch screens, digital readers, iPad and tablets.
I recently read a post defining Information Literacy, Digital Literacy, and Digital Citizenship. Information Literacy, Digital Literacy and Digital Citizenship by Maggie Hos-McGrane. It was also a Topic on a recent #Edchat discussion. After considering all of this, as well as a presentation that I am working on dealing with the subject, I have made some personal observations. I really believe that, as content experts, most educators are information literate. That would mean: To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and has the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.
Where I begin to have my doubts however, is in my day-to-day contacts with educators throughout the year. I supervise student teachers requiring me to travel to many different schools contacting many different educators. I have not accumulated data, or even done a survey, but in my many encounters with educators they have often expressed objections to the use of technology tools for learning in education. It is not necessarily the actual use of technology that is being objected to, but rather the need for the educator to have to personally learn the technology. This may be the result of many things such as: bad professional development experience, lack of support to try new things, control issues, or simply not wanting to have to learn anything more. This is where I begin to be concerned. It is my OPINION that there are too many educators falling into this category. They have little chance to meet the next requirement of Media or Digital Literacy. Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate and analyze information using digital technology.
How many digitally illiterate teachers in a school does it take to begin to affect the way kids are learning? This definition does not call for technology mastery, but rather simply an ability to use technology. YES, you can be a good teacher without using technology. Your students however in order to be Lifelong learners, as we all want them to be, will need a knowledge of these things to access and create content as they move further into their future. No one will be resurrecting Guttenberg technology to support outdated methods of teaching. Technology tools are no longer an option left to a teacher’s discretion. Students without a digital literacy will be handicapped as learners in their own lifetime.
How we teach often reflects how we learn. New learners have new tools. Many teachers learned and teach with old tools. They are comfortable with old tools, but a teacher’s comfort is not the goal of education. Additionally, the variety of tech tools for learning offer great opportunity for success with differentiation. Educators need to be aware. What good is it being a content expert if no one is getting the message?
Good educators need to model learning. Not being media literate in the 21st Century is a very POOR model. A teacher’s content expertise is a small rival to the internet. Teaching and guiding kids to harness that content should be the goal. Projects and speeches on paper, display boards and podiums have been replaced by many tech alternatives. Kids get it, some teachers don’t! We shouldn’t teach kids to be keepers of content, but learners of content, better yet, creators of content. It needs to be a lifelong process and tech tools are required.
If relevance requires continuous learning and it is necessary for acceptance, how do educators keep up without knowledge of media literacy? It is a professional responsibility! Media Literacy requires people enter a world that gives up a great deal of control. Many educators are not prepared for that. Comfort and control issues however, do not excuse educators from being media literate. Even one illiterate educator in a school is one too many. An even worse offense is a media illiterate administrator. We all need to model learning, especially our leadership, and moving forward, technology will be a part of that learning.
Hi, Mr. Whitby,
As an educator who does use technology extensively, I would like to focus in on one thing that you said that can help educators get organized: keeping good folders and files on their computers. Every time I have a new project, I create a folder for it and store it on the desktop, in my “business” folders, or in my “education” folders. Unfortunately, I have to spend a great amount of time organizing all of my information, but that is just the cost of being able to find things. I think most computer people spend a lot of time organizing content. If that is what teachers are hesitant about, they should accept the fact that a lot of time has to be spent on this…building a solid platform where everything is easily accessible is the start of computer literacy.
Dear Tom,
Thanks for the post.
We experience the problem of digitally illiterate teachers and administrators on a daily basis. Out of 1000 personal invitations sent to teachers to test our software we have had about 10 teachers take up the opportunity. About 1%. Our success rate with students is about 30 times this figure,
Our software was built for language teachers and students. It has been 10 years in development and is a very powerful learning tool that can be completely customized and integrated into any curriculum. We´ve noticed that the teachers and schools that have talked with us are inquisitive and curious teachers and schools who are seeking new opportunities. They are learners as well as teachers. Most teachers talk about sharing and collaborating but very few do. Teachers talk about innovation but very few do. You are 100% correct when you say it´s poor, and it´s teachers responsibility. Your article hit a home run with me, and I´m thankful that a leading educator is making this issue public. It´s a problem.
We have contacted most of the leading educators on twitter with the high profiles and not one has tested our software. We´ll keep trying but if they are the leaders of the industry, then what does that say? We have also contacted some of the leading teaching SIG – and not a one has taken us up on an offer to test our platform. It´s simply not good enough. If these people are in a position of leadership then they must be inquisitive, and curious business leaders – testing and experimenting everything. Especially software specifically make for their industry.
You might have noticed at the recent TEDX London event, Sir Ken Robinson talked about demographics, customization and cost. All of these things we are able to solve with out technology. Here´s an article written about us today:
http://itdecs.com/2011/09/english-training-for-techies-is-in-the-cloud/
If there are any teachers out there reading this and feeling culpable, its not too late to start. Technology can deliver a wide range of benefits to the school, the teachers, and the students. Make a start.
@Eyespeak Curious how you are questioning leaders because they do not buy your software? There are a lot of leaders that understand technology skills are important and put their resources into people to leverage all of the free things that are available as opposed to putting money into software. I do not think that a good sales tactic is commenting on a blog and questioning those that are not buying your product and their leadership abilities. The first area that we need to be putting our resources towards is people. I do not think that this is an appropriate area to be pushing your product, nor do I believe your strategy is appropriate either.
@Tom, great post as always. I am 100% with you that as educators we need to model the skills that our students will need to serve them not only in their future, but to serve them now. We have to give them all of the opportunities possible.
I completely agree! I am a new adjunct in psychology and I gave my students a project in which they must research social media websites in order to discover what issues in psychology are being discussed in this new format. The days of libraries, sadly, are over and I encourage my students to use social media for educational purposes. I believe in meeting students where they reside, and in 2011, they reside in cyberspace. Great post Tom!
Follow the money, Tom. Too many people are getting paid to produce and massage paper based content delivery activities. And, putting something on a web site is only a very minimal improvement over printing it on paper. We still pay people to go to ‘meetings’ where paper is passed out; we don’t yet require everyone to get the content and store it electronically.
After an edtech conference recently, I even received a printed list of participants and their email address and didn’t even get a response to my inquiry, via email, regarding the availability of the list in an electronic format, well, not yet, anyway; it’s only been two months, but a paper list was available at the end of the conference. Why not an electronic one?
[…] don’t go well together for me. (That’s why I found this tweet and especially this blog post by Tom Whitby quite refreshing.) Is a screen really the materialized essence of […]
Tom, simply put, I agree wholeheartedly!!! You described my feelings, perceptions, and observations perfectly. Now, if we can just facilitate a change.
In every era of innovation there have been those who have embraced changed and those who choose to drag their feet. It’s not unique to education although it might well be argued that the consequences run much deeper when educating a new generation. The challenge I feel is to distinguish between the sceptics who require evidence and justification before committing and the cynics who display nothing more than a professional apathy.
Justifying your innovations to a sceptic helps to clarify our purpose, broaden perspective and may possible recruit them to your innovations. Don’t waste your time and energy on the cynics they just want to drag you down in an increasingly negative malaise. Do you really need the approval or permission of cynics before carrying through your innovations? Of course not, the democratisation of media, the very tools we promote also support us, today none of us are alone voice. The debate is not about whether or not to adopt technology, rather it’s about how our pedagogy can benefit from technology. Forget the digitally illiterate we have already won the day.
Many teachers who were “computer phobic” remain skeptical about the headlong rush to embrace IT in the classroom. Some are, without a doubt, “turn-back-the-clockers”; a surprising number are fiercely independent teachers who simply consider the classroom to be their kingdom. Much of that skepticism is well-founded, given the relentless and cyclical nature of school reform, not to mention a recent past strewn with failed technology initiatives.
Your Blog post is very stimulating because it counters my current post at Educhatter which attempts to assess the legitimacy of Matt Richel’s critique of the effectiveness of “technology-centric” schools. For a different perspective, you might want to sneak a peak at http://educhatter.wordpress.com/
Online discussion forums like #Edchat continue to relentlessly promote the Digital Classroom as the new panacea. After reading the threads, you might be forgiven for feeling a lot like you did being “in-serviced” at one of those dreadful Professional Development Days.
Why are skeptics like Nicholas G. Carr simply ignored on online forums or simply dismissed as either “wingnuts” or 21st century Luddites?
It’s conceivable that a few of those so-called “illiterate teachers” have not only read Nicholas Carr’s writings, but also such books as You are Not a Gadget, Hamlet’s Blackberry, and The Net Delusion. Some might even be aware of Sherry Turkle’s 2011 book Alone Together, a meticulously researched look at how communications technologies intended to bring us together may be pushing us apart. After all, “off-liners” can still read and perhaps even think critically about where we are drifting.
Thanks for a great post! I struggle with this everyday as the ‘person in charge of ICT’ it really irritates me that even teachers straight out of teachers college are still completely unaware of how to teach using any form of technology. Maybe that’s a little harsh but when the grand total of their knowledge is how to create a worksheet using Microsoft Word it almost makes me want to break down!
Really interesting post, Professor Whitby. But I have to admit to being distracted by the misspelling of Gutenberg. I kept imagining Steve Guttenberg inventing the printing press!
As a professional communicator who spent most of a decade working in the post-secondary sector in Canada, I have to tell you that many faculty are unaware of what’s happening around them. The most common arguments? “I’m not paid by the institution to learn this stuff.” “It’s not serious.”… “Why should I participate in the dumbing down of the student body?” Some faculty members coast as they approach the end of their teaching career, staying with whatever methods and tools they started with. Sad, really.
[…] blog post about our responsibility as educators to be media literate. The comments are as interesting as the […]
[…] No Defending Illiterate Educators « My Island View–Teach students what to look for, and what to value in content, so they can access it in whatever form it is being delivered. More importantly, allow students to use those tools of technology and information to create new content and share it with others. […]
Don’t worry everyone! A new technologically savvy generation of teachers is on the rise!! We know the importance and innescapable inevetibility of digital technology to define, redefine and transform our lives because we’ve experienced it in all its glory. Incorporating digital learning in the classroom is essential in keeping students engaged and preventing them from shutting down (or dropping out) due to a lack of stimulation or relevance to the real world. Teachers need to empower the next generation with the skills and knowledge needed to compete and survive in our digital age…so get with the times people and join us in the 21st century!
Good post, Tom. Thank you as always for your reflective thoughts. I am glad I checked my Twitter account today to read this but sorry that I missed the 21st century discussion on Tuesday.
I’ve often found that teachers who are the most resistant to changing the way they teach (if they’ve needed to) or who have been the most resistant to embedding technology have been teachers who have lacked confidence and a helping hand. What I am surprised at is the number of teachers who do not help each other do better in school. Learning communities can be very powerful. In the same way that some children need extra support, so do some teachers. Inspiring others to try something new and then letting them know you will be there if they need you goes a long way. Teachers need kindness too. Teach them to be “fearless”, to accept “failure” as they learn, and they WILL move forward. They will try new things and they will learn to use this technology the same way they’ve incorporated Read180, Compass Learning and student information systems. We’ve come a long way, baby. I agree that we do not have time to wait but I know that there is still a lot left to give from many. I hope that they find the support they need before they reluctantly (and sadly) leave the profession that they’ve given many years to.
[…] sein Buch unter die Kopfkissen gelegt werden. Von @tomwhitby habe ich gelernt: there ain’t no defending illiterate educators. Guess what – the same applies to […]
Bravo! Well said and so TRUE! Thank you for your commitment to education!
It’s interesting to know that even in places where computer and technology are embedded in society, some teachers seemed “technophobic.” I agree when you said, “Not being media literate in the 21st Century is a very POOR model.” I believe in a “learning teacher”, regardless of time and space, every teacher must go beyond what the curriculum content suggests and model out a look of the future. Teachers must not stop learning and continue to upgrade their views.
[…] es sei aber auch hier wieder klar betont, dass man das Internet in diesem Zusammenhang eigentlich nicht ignorieren kann (sollte man […]